Huskers Clash with No. 20 Kansas

Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-3, 2-0 Big Ten)

vs. 20/24 Kansas Jayhawks (10-0, 0-0 Big 12)

Wednesday, December 21, 2022, 6 p.m. (CT)

Pinnacle Bank Arena – Lincoln, Nebraska

Tickets: Huskers.com / 1-800-8-BIG-RED
Live TV: Nebraska Public Media
Ana Bellinghausen (PBP), Kara Graham (Analyst)
Live Video: B1G+
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (5:45 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (107.3 FM), Omaha (590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App
Special Event: Husker Holiday Game

Huskers Face Fourth Top 20 Foe with Kansas

The Nebraska women’s basketball team returns to Pinnacle Bank Arena for the fourth game of its five-game home stand when the Huskers take on No. 20 Kansas Wednesday. 

Tip-off between Nebraska (9-3, 2-0 Big Ten) and the Jayhawks (10-0, 0-0 Big 12) is set for 6 p.m. (CT) in Lincoln. Live statewide television coverage will be provided by Nebraska Public Media with a video stream for subscribers of B1G+. Ana Bellinghausen and Kara Graham will be on the television call. The game also can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on 107.3 FM in Lincoln and 590 AM in Omaha, the Huskers App and Huskers.com.

Nebraska opened its five-game home stand with wins over Wisconsin (82-54, Dec. 7) and Samford (71-46, Dec. 10) before adding a 66-39 win over Wyoming on Sunday. 

The Huskers, who notched home win No. 500 in program history against Wyoming, are 6-0 at Pinnacle Bank Arena this season with all six victories by double digits. Nebraska has won 23 of its last 24 at PBA with 22 wins by double figures. Nebraska is allowing just 46 points per game at home this season. In 2021-22, NU surrendered just 57.3 points per game over 17 home contests, including just 53.6 points per game in non-conference play.

Jaz Shelley has provided a big-time offensive presence for the Huskers over the last six games, averaging 20.6 points and 5.7 assists while hitting 53.5 percent (23-43) of her three-point attempts. In the first six games this season, Shelley averaged 9.7 points and 7.5 assists while hitting just 23.3 percent (7-30) of her threes. She leads Nebraska in scoring (14.8 ppg), assists (6.6 apg), steals (1.5 spg) and three-pointers per game (2.5) this season.

Through two Big Ten games, Shelley leads the conference by averaging 30.0 points and 6.5 made threes per contest.

Preseason All-Big Ten center Alexis Markowski has added 13.3 points and a Big Ten-best 9.8 rebounds over 12 games. The reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, Markowski owns back-to-back double-doubles after going for 22 points and 10 boards in Sunday’s win over Wyoming. She had 16 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Samford (Dec. 10). The 6-3 center from Lincoln Pius X owns five double-doubles this year and 11 in her career. She has eight double-figure scoring games and seven double-digit rebound games this season.

Allison Weidner produced her second double-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high five steals in the win over Samford (Dec. 10). She added another strong effort with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in Sunday’s win over Wyoming. The 5-10 sophomore from Humphrey, Neb., who twice had her St. Francis High School jersey (#2) retirement postponed last week, opened Big Ten play with 13 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and five assists in a win at No. 20 Maryland (Dec. 4). She followed with 13 points, a season-high seven assists and five rebounds in a run past Wisconsin (Dec. 7).  

Maggie Mendelson made her Husker basketball debut with nine points on perfect shooting in nine minutes in Sunday’s win over Wyoming. The 6-5 forward/center who has represented the United States in gold medal-winning international performances in both basketball and volleyball, used her first week of basketball practice well during Finals Week to make a major impact against the Cowgirls.

Sam Haiby returned to the PBA court for the second time this season on Sunday. Haiby scored four points, grabbed two rebounds and dished out an assist against Wyoming, as she continues her recovery from offseason injury.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-3, 2-0 Big Ten)

21 – Annika Stewart – 6-3 – So. – F – 7.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg

40 – Alexis Markowski – 6-3 – So. – C/F – 13.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg

1 – Jaz Shelley – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 14.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg

3 – Allison Weidner – 5-10 – So. – G – 10.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg

42 – Maddie Krull – 5-9 – So. – G – 4.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg

Off the Bench

34 – Isabelle Bourne – 6-2 – Jr. – F – 12.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg

44 – Maggie Mendelson – 6-5 – Fr. – F/C – 9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg

15 – Kendall Moriarty – 6-1 – So. – G – 4.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg

14 – Callin Hake – 5-9 – Fr. – G – 3.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg

2 – Trinity Brady – 5-11 – Jr. – G – 2.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg

32 – Kendall Coley – 6-2 – So. – F/G – 2.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg

4 – Sam Haiby – 5-9 – Gr. – G – 2.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg

24 – Nailah Dillard – 5-10 – Gr. – G – 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)

Seventh Season at Nebraska (105-87); 16th Season Overall (298-196)

20/24 Kansas Jayhawks (10-0, 0-0 Big 12)

10 – Ioanna Chatzileonti – 6-3 – Jr. – F – 7.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg

1 – Taiyanna Jackson – 6-6 – Sr. – C – 15.6 ppg, 10.6 rpg

0 – Wyvette Mayberry – 5-7 – Jr. – G – 10.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg

14 – Zakiyah Franklin – 5-8 – Sr. – G – 14.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg

24 – Chandler Prater – 5-11 – Jr. – G – 9.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg

Off the Bench

13 – Holly Kersgieter – 5-11 – Sr. – G – 13.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg

4 – Mia Vuksic – 6-0 – Jr. – G – 4.9 ppg, 1.1 rpg

11 – Sanna Strom – 6-0 – So. – G – 3.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg

12 – Katrine Jessen – 6-4 – Jr. – F – 0.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg

14 – Danai Papadopoulou – 6-4 – So. – C – 1.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg

23 – Zsofia Telegdy – 6-3 – Fr. – F – 1.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg

33 – Nadira Eltayeb – 6-4 – Jr. – C – 1.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg

45 – Chisom Ajekwu – 6-4 – Sr. – C – 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg

Head Coach: Brandon Schneider (Wayland Baptist, 1995)

Eighth Season at Kansas (92-125); 25th Season Overall (493-263)

Scouting The Kansas Jayhawks

Kansas Coach Brandon Schneider brings his undefeated Jayhawks to Pinnacle Bank Arena to battle the Huskers.

KU entered the week with a 10-0 record and a No. 20 AP ranking following an 81-62 victory over Tulsa on Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks, who advanced to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, put up a signature win with a 77-50 pounding of nationally ranked Arizona in Tucson on Dec. 8.

KU features an experienced starting five and several quality players off the bench. Taiyanna Jackson, a 6-6 senior center from East Chicago, Ind., averages a double-double with 15.6 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. Jackson has not attempted a three, but has hit 66.3 percent of her field goal attempts and 75 percent of her free throws. A member of the Big 12 All-Defensive Team and an honorable-mention All-Big 12 pick last season, Jackson owns six double-doubles this season.

Zakiyah Franklin leads the Jayhawks on the perimeter. The 5-8 senior guard from Lakeland, Fla., is averaging 14.6 points while shooting a team-best 47.6 percent (10-21) from three-point range. She also leads KU with 2.9 assists per game and has hit 85 percent (34-40) of her free throws.

Holly Kersgieter, a 5-11 senior guard from Sand Springs, Okla., has added 13.8 points and 6.1 rebounds while starting the first nine games. She is also KU’s most active three-point shooter with 55 attempts (.291), despite missing KU’s weekend win over Tulsa.

Ioanna Chatzileonti replaced Kersgieter in the starting lineup at Tulsa. The 6-3 junior forward from Athens, Greece averaged 9.9 points and 5.6 rebounds last season while starting 27 games. She is averaging 7.6 points and 7.0 rebounds in five games early this season.

Wyvette Mayberry has added 10.0 points in her first season on the court at Kansas after transferring from Tulsa. As a sophomore at Tulsa, she earned second-team All-American Athletic Conference honors by averaging 14.1 points per game while shooting 43 percent from three-point range. She was also a member of the All-AAC Freshman Team in 2020-21 after averaging 12.3 points per contest.

Chandler Prater, a 5-11 junior guard from Kansas City, Mo., rounds out KU’s probable starting five by averaging 9.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Prater is just 1-for-7 from three-point range but ranks second among the Jayhawks with 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

Sanna Strom, a 6-0 sophomore from Sweden, has been KU’s most reliable player off the bench, playing in all 10 games with four starts. Strom has averaged 3.8 points and 2.2 rebounds while hitting 32 percent (8-25) of her threes.    

Junior Mia Vuksic also has been a significant contributor off the bench, averaging 4.9 points. The 6-0 guard from Croatia has hit 32.3 percent (10-31) of her threes.

Kansas has averaged a strong 76.5 points on offense while allowing just 53.7 points per game. KU is shooting a solid 45.1 percent from the field, but just 29.8 percent from three-point range. The Jayhawks are hitting 79.8 percent of their free throws. Defensively, they have held opponents to just 32.5 percent shooting, including 27.4 percent from long range. KU owns a dominant plus-10.4 rebound margin and a plus-2.5 turnover margin.

Nebraska vs. Kansas Series History

The most frequent opponent in Nebraska women’s basketball history, Kansas owns a 50-33 lead in the all-time series with the Huskers.

Although the series is decidedly in KU’s favor, Nebraska has dominated the results since Coach Amy Williams‘ senior season as a guard for the Huskers in 1997-98. Beginning with an 84-69 win over the Jayhawks at the Devaney Center in Lincoln on Feb. 11, 1998, Nebraska has gone 23-10 against Kansas in the last 33 meetings, including 14-1 in Lincoln.

Before Nebraska’s 1998 win, KU won 40 of the first 50 meetings between the two schools.

In the last meeting in the series, a 2-5 Nebraska squad defeated a 6-0 Kansas team, 58-52, on Dec. 5, 2018. Taylor Kissinger led Nebraska with 11 points and 11 rebounds, as Nebraska put together one of the top rebounding totals in program history with 64 boards. All 10 Huskers scored at least one point and grabbed at least one rebound in the low-scoring affair. NU’s plus-21 rebound total allowed the Huskers to overcome a 22-11 disadvantage in turnovers.

In 2017-18, Nebraska also handed an unbeaten Kansas team its first loss of the season with a 66-49 victory at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. The Huskers trailed the Jayhawks 33-20 late in the first half, before Hannah Whitish scored 25 of her career-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Big Red to a decisive victory. KU entered the game 7-0 on Dec. 6, 2017.

Nebraska and Kansas have played three times since the Huskers exited the Big 12 Conference for the Big Ten at the start of the 2011-12 season. The Jayhawks defeated a depleted Nebraska team 57-49 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Little Rock, Ark., on March 18, 2012.

Nebraska owns a nine-game home winning streak in the series, beginning with a 59-48 victory over the Jayhawks at the Devaney Center on Feb. 7, 2004. During the stretch, KU has only played the Huskers within single digits twice – a 67-58 Husker win on Jan. 21, 2009 and NU’s 58-52 victory on Dec. 5, 2018.

Nebraska is 21-14 all-time against Kansas in Lincoln, with the first 34 meetings at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Markowski Named Big Ten Player of the Week

Alexis Markowski earned the first Big Ten Player-of-the-Week award of her career after producing 22 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high-matching three blocks in Nebraska’s 66-39 win over Wyoming on Sunday.

The 6-3 center from Lincoln, who is on the Preseason Lisa Leslie Award Watch List, hit 9-of-14 shots from the field, including 4-of-5 three-pointers against the Cowgirls.

Markowski, who scored the game’s first seven points to put Nebraska in the driver’s seat from start to finish against Wyoming, was the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and an eight-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week last season.

Her performance against Wyoming came against 2022 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Allyson Fertig. Markowski limited Fertig to just four points and five rebounds on 2-of-7 shooting. Three of Fertig’s five misses were blocked.

Shelley On Top of Big Ten Stats

Jaz Shelley leads the Big Ten in scoring (30.0 ppg) and three-pointers (13) through two games.

Shelley opened Big Ten play with 29 points on 6-of-10 three-point shooting in Nebraska’s historic 90-67 upset of No. 20 Maryland in College Park (Dec. 4).

The 5-9 shooting guard from Moe, Australia added 31 points on 7-of-12 three-point shooting in Nebraska’s 82-54 home win over Wisconsin (Dec. 7).

No other Big Ten player made more than eight threes through the first two conference games.

While Shelley went 13-for-22 from beyond the arc, fellow conference sharp shooters Caitlin Clark (6-14) from Iowa and Taylor Mikesell (8-21) from Ohio State combined to go 14-for-35 (.400) to lead both of their teams to 2-0 starts.

Husker Numbers to Watch

Jaz Shelley is expected to play in the 100th game of her college career on Wednesday against Kansas (44 at Nebraska/55 at Oregon). Shelley needs four points to reach 600 as a Husker and eight points to achieve 900 in her career.

Allison Weidner needs two rebounds to achieve 200 in her young career.

Kendall Moriarty, who reached 100 career points with a career-high 11 in the win over Samford (Dec. 10), has already surpassed her season point total (58-45) from a year ago while tripling her three-point total (9-3) and more than doubling her season rebound total (30-12). She also has nearly doubled her steals total (5-3), more than quadrupled her made free throws (9-2) and matched her season block total (3) from a year ago while playing 42 fewer minutes than last season.

Annika Stewart is four points away from 400 in her career.

Alexis Markowski is 20 points away from 600 and 18 rebounds away from 400 as a Husker.

Sam Haiby is 15 points away from 1,400 in her career.

Isabelle Bourne is 49 points away from 1,000 in her career. She is six games away from her 100th career game as a Husker. Her older sister, Callie, recently reached the 1,000-point mark in her fifth season at Idaho State, achieving the milestone at San Diego (Nov. 25) in career game No. 118.

Nebraska’s Amy Williams is two wins away from the 300th of her collegiate head coaching career, including 97 victories at Rogers State (NAIA, 2007-12), 96 at South Dakota (2013-16) and 105 at Nebraska (2016-present).